David’s Prayers - Psalms
Teaching Videos
Teaching Ideas
Idea 1
Read “The Good Shepherd” on page 130 in The Jesus Storybook Bible.
Questions:
Who is the shepherd in the story, and what does he do for the sheep?
How does the shepherd show his love for the sheep in hard times?
What does it mean when the story says, "God is my shepherd"?
How does the psalm make you feel when you think about God being your shepherd?
Idea 2
Set up a room full of prayer stations for kids, let them go through the stations and pray. Tell the kids that we are going to pray and talk to God because that is something David did to be a person after God’s heart. We want to be after God’s heart too.
Set out a pile of small rocks and markers. Ask the kids to think of a word that describes God and write it on one of the rocks.
Ask the kids to write down a prayer request on a piece of paper and then turn the paper into an airplane. Get everyone to fly their airplanes at the same time. Once they have all landed ask the kids to pick up an airplane that isn’t theirs. Have each kids open up the new airplane and pray for what is inside.
Have a stack of small pieces of paper for the kids. Ask them to think of something they can say sorry to God for. Write it on a piece of paper and put it in a metal bucket. Once everyone has written their things on a piece of paper, and give the kids time to talk to God. Go outside and burn up the pieces of paper. Talk to the kids about God’s forgiveness.
Put a few signs down on the floor close together, one says thank you, one can say pray for someone, on can say ask. Ask the kids to stand a few metres away from the signs on the floor and toss a bean bag. Once the bean bag lands on one of the signs, ask them to do whatever it says.
Give the kids a number of magazines, ask them to cut out things they are thankful for and put tape them on the wall.
Draw God pictures or make Him cards.
Idea 3
Read A Psalms for Little Hearts: 25 Psalms for Joy, Hope, and Praise by Dandi Daley Mackall
A collection of 25 Psalms that help children express their feelings and talk to God. It's written in a way that makes these ancient songs relatable to young readers.
Questions
What words or phrases in the Psalm make you think about joy or hope?
Why do you think it’s important to praise God like the Psalm says?
Can you remember a time when you were happy like the Psalm describes?
How do these words help you trust God more?
Idea 4
Re-write the words to one of the Psalms.
Idea 5
Review what it means to be a person after God’s heart.
Give each of the kids an outline of a heart.
Talk together as a group to figure out all the ways that we can be a person after God’s own heart.
Write all the ways down on our hearts and colour them in. (talking to God, doing what God asks us to do, saying sorry to God when we mess up, loving God etc)
Idea 6
Work on memorizing Psalm 23.
Give each of the kids a copy of Psalm 23.
Let them take it home and work on memorizing it.
Offer a really good prize for the kids who memorize it by a certain date - like a trip to Chucky Cheese, or something they would really like to do.